


The Family

by Perennial_Sunflower



Category: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Genre: Bisexuality, Dysfunctional Family, Gendo is still a dick, Homophobia, Human AU, Internalized Homophobia, Internalized Misogyny, Meet the Family, Moms are still dead, Multi, Slow Build, Tags to be added, the slowest build to ever to be build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-30
Updated: 2016-05-30
Packaged: 2018-07-11 02:17:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7022530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Perennial_Sunflower/pseuds/Perennial_Sunflower
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shinji did not think Kaworu's family life would be more chaotic than his own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Family

**Author's Note:**

> So this was an idea I had a few years ago, but just never got around to writing it.
> 
> And now I did.
> 
> Enjoy, kudos, comment, ect, ect.

\---

He was wonderful at playing piano.

There were many other things about Kaworu Nagisa that were wonderful, but that was the only one Shinji would admit to. The other boy was in music class with him, but he never really got to appreciate his abilities since all the music teacher wanted to do was band music.

Kaworu was playing a song that he didn’t recognize. It was sweet and soft, and Kaworu’s fingers danced across the keys. It reminded Shinji of when he was little, when his mom was alive and his father actually smiled, when they would take him to the summer concerts out near the ball field. When it was over, Shinji didn’t realize he started to clap until he saw wide, red eyes staring at him. The brunette started to panic and tried to fumble out an apology, but the other just smiled, letting out a breathy laugh that echoed through the room.

“Thank you,” He said simply.

Shinji smiled, “No, no, thank you. Your playing is nice,” the boy said, bowing slightly.

“Did you want to use this room?” Kaworu asked, getting up from bench, “The piano is a little off-key, but other than that it still plays-“

“Nah, I’ve never been so good with keyboards.”

“Ah, my apologizes, um…?”

“Ikari. Shinji Ikari.”

“Kaworu Nagisa,” the pale boy replied while he shook Shinji’s hand.

Shinji chuckled nervously. “Yeah, I know. Piano in music class and everything. You always have a swarm of people around you.”

“I see you in music class but I can never remember your name.” Kaworu said, “I’m sorry about that.”

“It’s fine,” _It’s not like anyone else remembers my name_.

Kaworu shook his head. “No no, it’s impolite of me. You’re the only cello too!”

“Really, it’s alright,” Shinji said, “I don’t talk a whole lot. It makes sense.”

Kaworu smiled, though his eyebrows remained knitted. “Do you have anything to do after school tomorrow?” Kaworu asked, “Maybe we can practice some of our band pieces.”

“Sure, I guess.”

Kaworu smiled, “I’ll meet you tomorrow then,” He said, as he walked past the other boy, music folder in hand. "Goodbye Shinji!"

Shinji stood in the doorway, staring at the head of white hair bouncing down the hall. 

"Bye."  Shinji said quietly back.

\---

“He asked you to play with him?”

“Aww, you’re so lucky!”

“Yeah, you can get major lady advice from him! He’s practically always covered in chicks!"

“Stop being gross!"

Telling his friends about his encounter with the pianist first thing in the morning probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do, especially since he spent a few hours getting his cello out of storage the night before. He was exhausted, which made the onslaught of questions more difficult to deal with than they normally do. He just wanted to put his head down and sleep for the next eon or so. (Or, at least, until the next class).

“Oi idiot! You in there?” Asuka yelled, waving a hand in front the boy’s face. Shinji promptly tried to slap the redhead’s hand out of his face, only to slap his own face in the process. He groaned, rubbing his hand on his forehead in exasperation.

“Oh good, you’re awake,” The girl said. She arched an eyebrow. “You feeling alright? You know, if you need to throw up you should hurry down to the nurse. I’d rather not have you getting me sick.”

“Gee thanks.”

Touji wrapped his arms around Shinji's head in a sort of a headlock, and starts making kissy noises toward the place he slapped.  "Don't worry Shinji, I'll kiss it better!"

Kensuke did the same.

"Yeah, Daddy's here to make it all better!"  He said, in between giggling.

"Ugh, stop that!  You two are being creepy!" Asuka said.

"Nothing wrong with helping a bro out in a time of need," Touji replied.

"You aren't helping him!  Stop acting like a bunch of homos and get off of him!"

"Hey, we're as straight as they come!"

“Guys!” Hikari said, getting between her classmates, “The teacher could be here any minute! I don’t want a repeat of last week!”

Asuka rolled her eyes at the three boys, and sauntered over to her desk. Touji and Kensuke both laughed and let go of Shinji's head.  Touji sat down in front of Shinji, and proceeded to take his cap off and throw it under his seat with his book bag.

Swiveling around in his seat, Touji faces Shnji and grinned. 

"But really, Shinji," Touji said, just quiet enough for the other boy to hear, "The guy might be able to help you get a date one of these days.  If he can't, no one can."

Shinji sighed, and placed his head on his desk. Maybe a nap wouldn’t be so bad.

\---

The music room was a long way from Shinji’s last class. Thankfully, he saved up money to buy a cello case with straps, but it certainly didn’t make holding his book bag any easier. When he finally arrived to the music room, Shinji was completely out of breath.

Kaworu was shocked to see the other boy in such a state, and quickly got up to help him. Shinji cursed inwardly when he saw Kaworu’s eyebrows knit in concern.

“Are you alright?” He asked, helping the other boy get his case from his back, “How foolish of me. I didn’t think your cello would cause such a problem.”

“No, it’s fine,” Shinji said, out of breath, “I just had to walk farther than I thought I did.”

Kaworu gently placed the cello case on the ground. He looked at Shinji, who was currently lying down on the music room floor, trying to steady his breathing. “Would you like something to drink? I have a few bottles of water in my bag for emergencies.”

“Uh, sure,” Shinji replied, and Kaworu briskly walked over to his backpack, and started to rummage through the pockets until he pulled out a plastic bottle. He rolled the water bottle over to the other boy, who quickly sat up and took it in his hands.

“Thanks,” Shinji said, and proceeded to chug half the bottle’s content in a few seconds.

Silence filled the room. It wasn’t very long, but it made Shinji nervous. _Kaworu’s probably just letting me catch my breath before we start playing_ Shinji said to himself, though it didn’t help calm his nerves. He was usually okay with silence, but with just the two of them, Shinji felt like he had to say something.

Kaworu beat it to him, however, and walked back over to where Shinji sat. The other pointed to Shinji’s cello case. “Can I have a look?” He asked, and Shinji nodded in reply. Kaworu opened the case with a pop, and peered down at the instrument inside.

“It’s kinda old,” Shinji said to the other boy, “One of my neighbors was gonna give it away, but I ended up giving them a few thousand yen for it. It plays nice enough, but all the other cello’s I’ve owned were student models.”

“Seems like a bargain,” Kaworu stated, still looking over the instrument, “Most violins easily go for over 15,000 yen. I can’t imagine how much a cello would cost.”

“You play the violin too?”

Kaworu smiled, “I did for a few years. My mother was a violinist, but piano always came much easier to me.” He said. “She use to travel across Europe.”

“Wow that’s-“

“A big deal?” Kaworu interrupted, “Yes, she was pretty talented, thought she hasn’t done any tours since I was little.” He smiled, his fingers sliding over the strings fondly, and Shinji couldn’t help the pang of jealousy that stung in his chest.

Kaworu lifted the cello from out of its case. “Should we start?”

“Yeah, let’s play.”

\---

It was nice, just playing with Kaworu. He hardly knew the other student and yet Kaworu invited him to play like they had known each other for years. His disposition was a welcomed change from his friends, as much as he cared for them. Kaworu was soft and quiet, while everyone else-everything else- was chaos and noise.

Shinji walked home afterwards, making sure to go slowly in order to keep himself from getting tired. It was starting to get dark, and the setting sun reflecting on the ocean’s surface danced patterns of light across the houses and streets. When he reached the apartment, he had to slide the keycard through a few times before the door finally squeaked opened. He mentally reminded himself to call the landlord and have the damn thing replaced, or something.

“Misato?” Shinji called from the kitchen, placing his cello and book bag next to the tv set.

“Misato, I’m home!”

The women’s voice came from the direction of the bathroom “Shinji! Can you start making dinner? I bought some fresh veggies from the market!”

Shinji sighed.

“Sure!” He replied back, “I’ll cook some stir fry!”

“Oooooh tasty!”

Getting to business, Shinji turned on the gas stove and quickly chopped up the newly purchased vegetables. He threw some beef into the mix for extra protein. Shinji assumed he needed the extra protein after carrying his cello to and from school. Misato emerged from the bathroom right before the food was almost done, wearing men’s boxers as shorts and an old school t-shirt. She ruffled Shinji’s hair affectionately, then headed to the fridge to grab a can of beer.

Asuka barged through the door a moment later, her face red from rage.

“The professor gave me a B on my paper!” She yelled. “A fucking B! I worked my ass off on that god-damn report!”

“Welcome back Asuka!”

Dinner was like usual, with Misato complaining about her coworkers and Asuka complaining about her night classes at the local University and Shinji just eating in silence. It was like usual, until Asuka asked about how his time with Kaworu went.

“Hmm? Who’s Kaworu?” Misato asked between chewing.

“Kaworu Nagisa. Just some prissy boy who-“

Misato choked on her food.

Asuka slapped Misato’s back a few times. “Are you okay?” She asked, a rare side of Asuka shining through her usual, aggressive self. “Shinji, go and get some water-“

“I’m good, ‘m good.” Misato said. She downed the rest of her beer and coughed. “I just- wasn’t expecting that name to show up.”

“Why?”

Misato coughed. “The Nagisa Family is pretty dang rich. They live in the Historical District.”

“So? The Historical District isn’t that nice-“

“No no, they live in the _other_ historical district.”

“Damn,” Asuka said.

Shinji shrugged, “I mean, Kaworu did say his mom was a violinist. Like a good one.”

“I’d say you picked a really good new pal there, Shinji,” Misato said, winking. “You could see if he could help pay the rent this month!”

“I’m not gonna use him to get money.”

“Aww, c’mon! I don’t have enough money to pay both rent and repairs for my car!”

“Yeah,” Asuka added, “And all my money for this month is going to my new books.”

“I just said I’m not doing it!”

“But Shinjiiiiiiii-“

“No,” Shinji said. He crossed his arms against his chest. Shinji had just became friends with Kaworu. He’s not going to start begging for money from a guy he really just met a day prior.

Asuka raised an eyebrow at Shinji.

“Alright, if we can’t get money from your new friend, I guess we’ll just have to ask your dad for some,” She said.

Shinji’s blood went cold.

“Asuka…” Misato warned. 

"What?  Shinji's dad said he would pay rent if it was necessary!"

"But-"

"No, she’s right,” Shinji sighed, “We have to get the money somehow. I’d rather not got and visit my dad and beg.”

An awkward silence filled the room.

Shinji stood up and picked up his bowl, “I’m going to go and work on some math homework. Someone else gets to clean up,”

No one else said anything else after that, and when Shinji closed the door to his room he could just hear the others talking from the kitchen, but not enough to make out what they were saying. Shinji could guess, though. Misato is probably telling Asuka not to bring up Shinji's father like that again (Though she will), and Asuka is probably telling Misato that Shinji needs to grow some balls, or stop being a pansy, or something.

Shinji sat down on his futon _.  Messing up a potential friendship is better than facing Father again.  I guess._ But the thought of taking advantage of Kaworu made him a little sick to his stomach.  

But then he remembered the last time he saw his father face to face, and decided that maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea after all.

_\---_


End file.
